Improvement in the manufacture of latch-needles



^T. T. MAYNF..

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS T. MAYNE, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LATCH-NEEDLES.

Specilication forming part of Letters Patent No. 140,150, dated June 24, 1873 application led November 12, 1872.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS TowERs MAYNE, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented an Improvement in the Manufacture of Latch-Needles, of which the following is a specification The object of my invention is the rapid,

economical, and accurate manufacture of latchneedles for knit-ting machines; and this object I attain by punching in the blank, Fig. 3, the recesses heretofore made by rotary cutters.

An ordinary latch-needle is illustrated by Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawing. It consists ot' a flattened Wire bent at the end a for attachlnent to a knitting-machine, and has at the opposite end a hook, b, at a short distance from which the latch d is hinged to the body of the needle. It is necessary that the hooked end ot' the needle should be reduced in thickness, as shown; that there should be as' much metal as possible at that point in the body ofthe needle where the latch is hinged to the same; and that there should be a recess,e, at the rear of this point. In order to impart this shape to the needle, it has been the practice to reduce the stein or body at the desired points by rotary cutters, an operation of so tedious a character that a great portion of the cost of producing the needles may be attributed to it. I discard this process of forming the necessary recesses, and adopt the more economical plan ot' punching, which I will now proceed to describe more minutely.

In the rst place, I make a blank of flattened wire of sufticient length for conversion into two needles. I then placev this blank on a stationary die, with its rear edge against a rib, x, and its bent end against a gage, y, as shown in Fig. 3. Then, by means ofa punch, m, I cut out, at one operation, from the front edge of the blank the recesses required for one needle, the said punch having a cuttingedge, made to conform to the desired recesses, and being operated by any of the mechanical appliances common to other punching-presses. The blank is now reversed, its opposite bent end placed against the gage y, and punched as before, so as to form the necessary recesses for another needle, after' which the blank is severed into two parts, each part, Fig 4, being inished by polishing and otherwise; then by turning up the reduced end into the form of a hook, and tinally applying the latch d by introducing the broad end of the same into a slot in the swelled portion p of the needle, and passing a pin, q, through both latch and needle. (See Fig. l.)

It is essential that the recesses should be at a defined distance from the bent end a of the needle, and this distance is determined by the gage y, which is adjusted at the proper position from the punch and its die; hence whatever variation there may be in the length of the double blanks-and the latter will vary in length-the recesses will invariably be at the same distance from the bent ends of the stern.

I claim as an improvement in the manufacture of latch-needles- 1. Punching the recesses in the blank, in the manner described.

2. The punch m and its die, conforming to the shape of the desired recesses, in combina tion with the gage y.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

THOS. T. MAYNE.

VVituesses:

WM. A. STEEL, JOHN K. RUPEETUs. 

